Ligating implement with ligature severing means



V Nov. 4, 1969 N. c. GRAEFF ETAL LIGATING IMPLEMENT WITH LIGATURE SEVERING MEANS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 15,

Nov. 4, 1969 N. c GRAEFF ETAL LIGATING IMPLEMENT WITH LIGATURE SEVERING MEANS Filed April 15, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent Office 3,476,l l5 Patented Nov. 4, 1969 Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 608,421, .Ian. 10, 1967. This application Apr. 15, 1968, Ser. No. 721,222

Int. Cl. A611) 17/12; A61f 13/10 US. Cl. 128-326 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for use in tying objects located in relatively inaccessible positions comprising an elongated tubular body member, a length of thread extending through the body member and terminating at one end in a noose, a disc carried by the thread and severing means on the tubular body member to prevent overstressing of the locking disc during tightening of the noose.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation-in-part of our earlier filed US. application Ser. No. 608,421 filed J an. 10, 1967, which is a continuation-in-part of our earlier filed US. application Ser. No. 506,692 filed Nov. 8, 1965, now Patent No. 3,426,757.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The ligation of severed blood vessels during a surgical procedure.

Description of the prior art The prior art method of tying bleeders consists normally of either manually tying a surgeons knot about the bleeder or using an electrical spark which will cause coagulation in the bleeder. Neither of these methods are practical for tying deep bleeders, i.e. bleeders which occur substantially below the body surface.

SUMMARY BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings in which like reference numerals refer to like parts:

FIGURE 1 is a view partly in section showing a first form of ligating implement made in accordance with the teachings of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 but showing the implement after a tie has been effected;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary view showing the completion of a ligating operation;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing the tying portion of the ligating device of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing further details of the device of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 6 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 and showing an alternative form of the instant invention;

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing details of the implement of FIGURE 6; and

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged fragmentary view partly in section showing a safety feature of the implement of FIGURE 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The attainments of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description when taken in conjunc tion with the drawings in which there are shown and described illustrative embodiments of the invention; it is to be understood, however, that these embodiments are not intended to be exhaustive nor limiting of the invention but are given for purpose of illustration in order that others skilled in the art may fully understand the invention and the principles thereof and the manner of applying it in practical use so that they may modify it in various forms, each as may be best suited to the conditions of a particular use.

A first form of ligating device of the present invention is shown in FIGURE 1 and indicated generally at 10. The device comprises an elongated tubular body member 12 which may be of any suitable material but is preferably made of a plastic so that the member is inexpensive to produce and may be disposable after a single use. A thread 14 passes through the member 12 in a manner to be described and has a noose portion 16 formed by a disc 18. The thread 14 is made from standard suture material such as nylon, silk, cotton, or surgical gut and the disc 18 is preferably made from a plastic such as nylon but may be stainless steel or may be molded from an absorbable gelatinous material. For a complete description of the noose and disc configuration and operation reference is made to US. patent application Ser. No. 494,103 filed Oct. 8, 1965 by Suel G. Shannon entitled Surgical Device. Briefly the thread or ligature 14 passes through the disc 18 in a manner to produce a one-way knot, that is the disc allows the noose to be rather freely contracted but the looping configuration through the disc resists any subsequent enlargement of the noose.

The thread 14 which extends from the disc 18 passes into the tube 12 at a tapered end 20. The tapered end permits greater visibility by the surgeon when the device is in use. The thread or ligature 14 passes entirely through member 12 and exits from the distal end 22 which is also tapered for convenience. A nylon block or the like 24 is provided and is secured to the free end of the ligature 14 for fixing said ligature to the end of member 12. The block 24 is of sufiicient size so that it cannot enter the the hollow interior of the member 12. Other arrangements could be used for attaching the ligature to member 12.

A raised surface 26 is provided on the ligature within the member 12, such raised surface being conveniently a knot or the like formed in the ligature. The member 12 has a constricted portion 28 of reduced diameter, said portion being located towards the distal end 22 of the body member. The diameter of portion 28 is smaller than the external diameter of the knot 26 so that the knot cannot pass through the portion 28 for a reason to be described.

The member 12 is provided with a weakened section 30 located between the distal end 22 and the constricted portion 28. Such weakened section may be formed by scoring or a similar method. A stripe 32 which may be pained or color coded to be conspicuous to the eye is located adjacent the section 30 so that a user of the ligating device may readily detect the area of the weakened section.

Having now described the ligating device, the operation will be set forth. A severed vessel such as 34 as seen in FIGURE 1 which is to be ligated is surrounded by the noose 16 of the device 10. The noose is in its expanded condition and is quite large with relation to the size of the bleeder 34. A hemostat 36 is used to grasp the end of the vessel and to clamp the vessel closed to perform temporary hemostasis. The bleeder 34 may be in any remote area of the body such as at the bottom of a deep incision, located in the brain cavity, etc. It is extremely difiicult to tie deep bleeders by hand since the surgeon does not have suitable means for placing a hand knot in an area that cannot be reached with the surgeons fingers. The difiiculty is that the knot cannot be tightened since the surgeon cannot pull on the free ends of the string in a normal manner. Electro-coagulation methods are also not suitable for deep ties because it is not advisable to discharge electric sparks in areas deep within the body. The device is capable of reaching these remote areas due to its thin elongated configuration.

With the vessel clamped and surrounded as shown in FIGURE 1 the surgeon will break the body member 12 at the weakened section 30. The freed section 38 of the device is now pulled rearwardly relative to the forward section of the body member thus drawing the ligature 14 through the body member to thus contract the noose 16. When the noose is fully contracted as seen in FIGURE 2 the locking disc 18 will prevent subsequent enlargement of the noose to thereby effect permanent ligation of the vessel. The body member is then moved rearwardly along the ligature 14 to the position shown in FIGURE 3 at which time a scissors will be used to sever the ligature adjacent the disc 18. The body member 12 and its free end 38 will be joined after use by the ligature 14. The knot 26 on the ligature will, through cooperation with the constricted portion 28, prevent the body member from separating from the ligature and free end. By maintaining the used device in one piece there is less danger of a portion of the device being left in the wound and the devices may be easily counted before the wound is closed.

Some variation is permissible in the method of placing the noose 16 around the vessel 34. For example, the vessel could be first clamped by a hemostat and subsequently the noose could be passed over the rearward end of the hemostat and down to the position shown in FIG- URE l or the noose could be placed around the nose portion of the hemostat so that when the hemostat engages the vessel the noose will be in its approximate vessel encircling position. These variations permit some flexibility depending on the desires of the surgeon and the particular location of the vessel to be ligated.

In FIGURE 6 there is shown an alternative form of ligating device indicated generally at 40. The device comprises an elongated tubular member 42 similar to the member 12 previously described and includes a thread 14 passing through the member 42 and having a noose portion 16 formed by the disc 18 in the same manner as in the previous embodiment. The distinction between the device 40 as opposed to the device 10 lies in the manner of securing the upper end of thread 14 to the tubular member. In the embodiment of FIGURE 6 it can be seen that the thread 14 extends through the tubular member 42 and emerges from the upper end portion 44. The thread 14 is then passed back along member 42 and is secured in place by a short tubular member 46 press-fitted over the end of member 42. The member 46 may be suitably formed of a plastic material and is operative to frictionally hold the end of thread 14 in place on the member 42. Member 42 has a score line 30 as in the previous embodiment for separating member 42 into two parts for use in the same manner as the device 10 described in connection with FIGURE 1.

With reference now to FIGURE 8 there is seen enlarged details of the end 44 of member 42. As the thread emerges from the hollow interior 48 of member 42 it passes around a relatively sharp radius 50 and then is held along the exterior of member 42. The radius 50 is carefully chosen and plays an important role in the operation of the device. When the device is used and the noose 16 is being contracted around a vessel pressure is being exerted on the minute disc 18. As the surgeon continues to draw the thread 14 through member 42 the noose gets continually tighter around the severed vessel 34 and the disc 18 serves to maintain the noose in the contracted position. If the surgeon exerts too much pull on the thread 14 the disc 18 would run the risk of frac turing or the thread 14 may break at an uncontrolled point and thus destroy the ligation of the severed vessel. To protect against such an event the radius 50 is chosen to be sufficiently sharp so that the thread 14 would be severed at the radius upon reaching a predetermined pressure, which pressure would be calculated to be below the point at which the disc 18 would be fractured and below the tensile strength of the thread. This safety feature is particularly important when the ligating implement is being used by surgeons who have had little or no experience with its use.

Changes in construction will occur to those skilled in the art and various apparently different modifications and embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. The matter set forth in the foregoing description and accompanying drawings is offered by way of illustration only. The actual scope of the invention is intended to be defined in the following claims when viewed in their proper perspective against the prior art.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for use in tying comprising a disc having a plurality of apertures therein, a thread passed through said apertures in a manner to produce a noose, an elongated tubular body member, said disc being positioned adjacent a first end of said body member and being larger than the internal diameter of said body member at said first end, said thread extending from said disc and through said body member and terminating adjacent a second end of said body member, said body member having a weakened section disposed between said first and second ends for permitting said body member to be separated at said weakened section thereby permitting the movement of said second end away from said first end, movement of said second end away from said first end causing said thread to be drawn through said body member to thereby contract said noose, and severing means located at said second end over which said ligature extends for severing said ligature upon reaching a predetermined tensile force in said ligature.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said severing means is integral with said body member second end and comprises an annular tip having converging wall portions.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 480,870 8/1892 Harris 128320 1,855,546 4/1932 File l28326 2,012,776 8/1935 Roeder 128326 2,610,631 9/1952 Calicchio 128326 2,614,564 10/1952 Giaccaglia et a1. 128326 3,169,526 2/1965 Wood 128-326 DALTON L. TRULUCK, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 128-346 

